Information about Native American Tribes and Communities

The first people to live in North America migrated over a long period of time from Siberia.  These people eventually spread out to populate virtually all corners of North, Central and South America.  They developed several thousand distinct languages, practiced varying forms of hunting, gathering and agricultural production, and observed a variety of religious beliefs. 

Some North American Native American groups or cultures were very small and occupied small geographical niches. In particular, this was the norm in California.  In other places, one group came to dominate a large geographical area and developed complex means of communication and governance.  Examples of this are the Iroquois Confederacy and the Anasazi people.

Contact with Europeans beginning in 1492 brought rapid and devastating change to the original people of North America.  Scholars estimate that 90 percent of native populations were killed by disease and violence during the first 10 years of contact with Europeans and, later, Americans.  At least 200 tribal groups have disappeared completely.  Most others survived displacement and relocation.

Native Americans are not simply people of the past - they are very much Americans of the present and the future.  The following information is taken largely from the excellent "Native American FAQs Handbook" by George Russell. There are currently 559 federally recognized tribes in the US and over 200 tribes which are seeking formal recognition.  Today, tribal communities occupy all points on the economic spectrum - from very poor to very rich.  In general, however, Indian communities lag far behind mainstream American communities in many important social indicators.

Health

Education

In the past, education was a tool used by the US government to suppress Indian identity.  Native children were forcibly separated from their families and forced to attend boarding schools where they were not allowed to speak their native language, were forced to wear European clothing and eat European food.  Many children were subjected to harsh physical punishment and emotional abuse.  Partly as a result of this legacy, Native American educational achievement lags far behind the nation as a whole.

Economic Conditions

Because of isolation, unemployment and lack of business development, third world living conditions are typical of many reservations:

Indian gaming has improved this picture on those reservations with casinos, but even most gaming tribes lag well behind the rest of the US.

Housing

Housing in tribal communities tends to be old and overcrowded because of the lack of financial resources and home financing options.  Although these conditions aren't universal, on the Navajo Nation 46% of the housing has no electricity, 54% has no indoor plumbing and 82% is without a telephone.  Even in California, their are communities like the Yurok Reservation where over half of the population lives without electric or phone service.

More Information

Most of the information above comes from an excellent and very readable book by George Russell called "Native American FAQs Handbook."  Unfortunately, it appears that this book is out-of-print.  If you know where it can be purchased, please let us know.

There are literally hundreds of sources of good information about Native Americans and tribal communities.  Visit your local library or book store, or surf the net.  For current events, we recommend two news sources:

Native Data.com is a website containing lots of valuable information and links about tribes throughout the US.

For a broad historical perspective, a good starting place is one of the following books.  (When you purchase a book from Amazon.com and go through one of our links below, Amazon donates 4% of what you purchase to SSP!)